Skandapurana 6.3.129

6.3.129.p1

adhyāya 129

6.3.129.1

śrīmārkaṇḍeya uvāca -
tato gacchenmahīpāla brahmatīrthamanuttamam .
anyeṣāṃ caiva tīrthānāṃ parātparataraṃ mahat .. 129.1 ..

The venerable Mārkaṇḍeya said: / Then one should go, O ruler of the earth, to the unsurpassed Brahmatīrtha, / which is greater than the greatest among the other sacred fords.

6.3.129.2

tatra tīrthe suraśreṣṭho brahmā lokapitāmahaḥ .
caturṇāmapi varṇānāṃ narmadātaṭamāśritaḥ .. 129.2 ..

At that sacred ford, the best of the gods, Brahmā, the grandfather of the worlds, / has resorted to the bank of the Narmadā for [the benefit of] all four classes.

6.3.129.3

vācikaṃ mānasaṃ pāpaṃ karmajaṃ yatpurākṛtam .
tatkṣālayati deveśo darśanādeva pātakam .. 129.3 ..

Whatever sin has been committed formerly, born of speech, mind, or bodily action, / the lord of the gods washes away that sin merely by being seen.

6.3.129.4

śrutismṛtyuditānyeva tatra snātvā dvijarṣabhāḥ .
prāyaścittāni kurvanti teṣāṃ vāsastriviṣṭape .. 129.4 ..

Having bathed there, the best of the twice-born perform expiations / declared in the Śruti and Smṛti; their abode is in heaven.

6.3.129.5

ye punaḥ śāstramutsṛjya kāmalobhaprapīḍitāḥ .
prāyaścittaṃ vadiṣyanti te vai nirayagāminaḥ .. 129.5 ..

Those, on the other hand, who abandon the scriptures and, tormented by desire and greed, / declare an expiation, will indeed go to hell.

6.3.129.6

snātvādau pātakī brahmannatvā tu kīrtayedagham .
tasya tannaśyate kṣipraṃ tamaḥ sūryodaye yathā .. 129.6 ..

Having bathed first, a sinner, O brahmin, having bowed, should declare his sin; / that [sin] of his is quickly destroyed, like darkness at sunrise.

6.3.129.7

tatra tīrthe tu yaḥ snātvā pūjayetpitṛdevatāḥ .
agniṣṭomasya yajñasya sa labhetphalamuttamam .. 129.7 ..

Whoever bathes at that sacred ford and worships the ancestors and the deities, / obtains the excellent fruit of an Agniṣṭoma sacrifice.

6.3.129.8

tatra tīrthe tu yaddānaṃ brahmoddiśya prayacchati .
tadakṣayaphalaṃ sarvamityevaṃ śaṅkaro'bravīt .. 129.8 ..

Whatever gift one gives at that sacred ford dedicated to Brahmā, / all of that has inexhaustible fruit; thus spoke Śaṅkara.

6.3.129.9

gāyatrīsāramātro'pi tatra yaḥ kriyate japaḥ .
ṛgyajuḥsāmasahitaḥ sa bhavennātra saṃśayaḥ .. 129.9 ..

Even if only the essence of the Gāyatrī is recited there in muttered prayer, / it becomes endowed with the Ṛg, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas; of this there is no doubt.

6.3.129.10

tatra tīrthe tu yo bhaktyā tyajeddehaṃ sudustyajam .
anivartikā gatistasya brahmalokānna saṃśayaḥ .. 129.10 ..

Whoever abandons with devotion the body so hard to abandon at that sacred ford, / his attainment is one that does not return from the world of Brahmā; of this there is no doubt.

6.3.129.11

yāvadasthīni tiṣṭhanti brahmatīrthe ca dehinām .
tāvadvarṣasahasrāṇi devaloke mahīyate .. 129.11 ..

As long as the bones of embodied beings remain in Brahmatīrtha, / for that many thousands of years one is honored in the world of the gods.

6.3.129.12

avatīrṇastato loke brahmajño jāyate kule .
uttamaḥ sarvavarṇānāṃ devānāmiva devatā .. 129.12 ..

Having descended from there into the world, he is born in a family of knowers of the Veda, / superior among all the classes, like a deity among the gods.

6.3.129.13

vidyāsthānāni sarvāṇi vetti vedāṅgapāragaḥ .
jāyate pūjito loke rājabhiḥ sa na saṃśayaḥ .. 129.13 ..

He knows all branches of knowledge and has mastered the auxiliary disciplines of the Veda; / he is born respected in the world by kings, without a doubt.

6.3.129.14

putrapautrasamopetaḥ sarvavyādhivivarjitaḥ .
jīvedvarṣaśataṃ sāgraṃ brahmatīrthaprabhāvataḥ .. 129.14 ..

Endowed with sons and grandsons, free from all diseases, / he lives for a full hundred years through the power of Brahmatīrtha.

6.3.129.15

etatpuṇyaṃ pāpaharaṃ tīrthaṃ jñānavatāṃ varam .
ye paśyanti mahātmāno hyamṛtatvaṃ prayānti te .. 129.15 ..

This holy sacred ford, which removes sin, is the best for the wise; / the great-souled ones who see it attain immortality.

6.3.129.15_2

.. iti śrīskānde mahāpurāṇa ekāśītisāhasryāṃ saṃhitāyāṃ pañcama āvantyakhaṇḍe revākhaṇḍe brahmatīrthamāhātmyavarṇanaṃ nāmaikonatriṃśadadhikaśatatamo'dhyāyaḥ..

Thus ends the one hundred twenty-ninth chapter, named 'Description of the Glory of the Sacred Ford Brahmatīrtha', in the Revā Section of the fifth section, the Āvantyakhaṇḍa, in the Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.